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Jeffrey Imm writes in with an AP report about the January 21 Inaugural prayer service to take place at the National Cathedral in Washington. Among those officiating will be Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). This is an outrage and should be stopped. What's ISNA? As I have written (here, for instance), the US government has identified ISNA as a Muslim Brotherhood front organization. Actually, the Muslim Brotherhood itself has identified ISNA as a Muslim Brotherhood front organization. And the Muslim Brotherhood is all about extending Islamic law globally--even in America. According to its 1991...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDcdpEBctaQ Bush at National Cathedral on 9-13-01 "We are here in the middle hour of our grief. We have seen the images of fire and ashes, and bent steel. This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger."

ARLINGTON, Va. - Iran's former president decried a wave of "Islamophobia" that he said is being spread in the United States by fear and hatred of Islam in response to terror perpetrated by Muslims. "In the crime of 9/11, two crimes were committed," Mohammad Khatami said. "One was killing innocent people. The second crime was masking this crime in the name of Islam." Under smothering security, with dozens of uniformed police and plainclothes American security personnel provided by the State Department, Khatami spoke Friday night at an event sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations called "The Dialogue of Civilizations:...

One of the most unsavory of the Iranian theocracy's numerous human rights abuses is its persecution of non-Muslims, including Christians. Not overly concerned with religious liberty, or even the plight of fellow Christians, Washington's National Cathedral is throwing open its doors today (Thursday) for former Iranian President and Islamic cleric Mohammad Khatami. Without any sense of irony, by him or the cathedral's Episcopalian masters, Khatami will talk about how the three "Abrahamic faiths" can build peace in the world. According to the National Cathedral's website, Khatami was the "first reformist president" of Iran following the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Indeed, the...

A Jewish advocacy group is urging the Bush administration to deny a visa to former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, who has lecture dates in New York and Washington next week. In a letter to President Bush, Rabbi Marvin Hier, the founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said allowing Khatami to enter the United States rewards the Iranian leadership for their "policy of confrontation and hated towards the United States and her allies."Khatami has been invited to speak at a U.N. conference in New York. After that, on Sept. 7, he's scheduled to discuss the role of Christians, Muslims...

Despite a standoff...

WASHINGTON - Despite a diplomatic standoff over nuclear weapons and other difficult issues, a former Iranian president is making plans to speak next month at the Washington National Cathedral. The former president, Mohammad Khatami, would be the most senior Iranian official to visit Washington since Islamic fundamentalists seized the U.S. Embassy in 1979 and held Americans there hostage for 444 days. The Iranian Embassy in Washington closed in April 1980 and there have been no formal relations between the two countries since then, although U.S. and Iranian diplomats on some occasions have participated in multinational meetings, such as on Afghanistan....

Former President of Iran Invited to Speak in D.C. By Robin Wright Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, August 22, 2006; Despite a looming diplomatic showdown with Iran over its nuclear program, the Bush administration has agreed to issue a visa to former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami to give a public address at the Washington National Cathedral next month, according to the Rev. Canon John L. Peterson, director of the Center for Global Justice and Reconciliation. Khatami would be the most senior Iranian to visit Washington since Iran's 1979 revolution and the 1979-1981 takeover of the U.S. Embassy, which led Washington...

Cathedral Gets Offspring of Ancient Tree By JACOB ADELMAN, Associated Press Writer Mon Dec 12, 7:24 PM ET WASHINGTON - The National Cathedral will celebrate the holidays this year with an unusual Christmas tree: a pine seedling whose parent is said to be the oldest known tree on earth. The seedling is a gift from the Champion Tree Project International. It breeds and clones the world's oldest and largest trees in hopes of compiling a living archive of the genes that give them their longevity. "It's older than the great pyramids, older than Stonehenge," project President David Milarch said of...

From the Episcopal Propaganda Ministry News Service.  Let's see - a revisionist "family values" conference draws 150 people to a vastly empty cathedral, while those who still believe Jesus as Lord came by the thousands to the Plano conferences.   Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama fills NatCat to overflowing.   Do the math.   Link: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_68559_ENG_HTM.htm   --------------------------------------------------------------------- Danforth holds mirror to religious-political right, left By Dana WilkieENS 101405-1Friday, October 14, 2005 [WASHINGTON] While underscoring the importance of keeping the Episcopal Church an “inclusive” body of believers, former Sen. John Danforth on Thursday cautioned National Cathedral conference-goers against becoming a “mirror image” of the...

Luis Palau has been invited by the White House to give the closing prayer at the National Cathedral on Friday, September 16th as part of ceremonies for the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. President Bush and other dignitaries are expected to attend the special services which are part of a nation-wide initiative to stage memorial services and other appropriate observances in the wake of the Katrina disaster. “This tragedy can be an opportunity to allow God’s love to bring healing and hope to people all across our country,” said Palau. “It has shown...

"The WASHINGTON NATIONAL CATHEDRAL'S installed its new dean, one Samuel Lloyd, formerly of Trinity Church, Copley Square, Boston. The first reading (this was not billed as an ecumenical service) was from the Holy Koran! Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy." (The Washington National Cathedral is Episcopalian.)"The following day, Sunday April 24, The Rev. Lloyd started his tenure as Dean of "America's Church" with a bang. At Lloyd's invitation, the homily was given by The Rev. Dr. George F. Regas, Rector Emeritus of All Saints Church in Pasadena, California. The service included readings from the Koran and Hebrew...

The Washington Post reported yesterday on the installation of the Rev. Samuel Lloyd as the new dean of the Washington National Cathedral.      I am not surprised by what Rev. Lloyd said at his installation.  I am not surprised that readings from the Koran were included.  I suspect that this is a reflection of the 'new thing' that the 'spirit' (whatever that is) is doing in the Diocese of Washington.   I've been in the National Cathedral and estimate that it can seat a couple of thousand people.  The Post article said that 'hundreds' came to this installation service.  (And at...

The thousands of people who attended Christmas services at the Washington National Cathedral were urged to put aside political beliefs to pray for the country's leaders and the troops in Iraq and to remember that faith can overcome fear. "This morning, over 150,000 servicemen and women are serving in Iraq and other parts of the volatile Middle East," the Right Rev. John Bryson Chane, dean of the cathedral, told parishioners at the nationally televised Christmas-morning service. "No matter how any of us may feel about this war, they need our prayers and Christmas wishes at a time of great difficulty...

In fact, Darth Vader is in the premises. There's a grotesque of his bust on the north façade. Apparently the Cathedral's planners weren't satisfied with a hodge-podge building comprising various ill-applied historic European traditions—what it really needed was a contest for children to design a few pop elements. Much as I respect Darth Vader—I cherish the Dark Lord of the Sith more than I do most other Lords out there—I'd call this an aesthetic crime on par with the questionable establishment-clause propriety of the whole affair.

When Franklin Roosevelt died in 1945, the New York Times wrote, "Men will thank God 100 years from now that Franklin D. Roosevelt was in the White House." It will not take 100 years to thank God for Ronald Reagan. But why? Why was he so admired? Why was he so beloved? He was beloved, first, because of what he was. Politics can be cruel, uncivil. Our friend was strong and gentle. Once he called America hopeful, big-hearted, idealistic, daring, decent and fair. That was America and, yes, our friend. And next, Ronald Reagan was beloved because of what he...

LOVE EPISCOPAL STYLELast Sunday at Washington's National Cathedral, on the occasion of the celebration of the Baptism of Our Lord, Frank Griswold delivered a sermon that demonstrated once again that whatever his religion is, it isn't Christianity: And of course, distinctions, and differences do exist among us and are embodied in us: our cultures, our languages, our life experiences. As well, divisions exist among us based on our various points of view, some of which we create and sustain and justify out of our fear, arrogance and sinfulness. That we have such distinctions, differences, and even divisions, is neither surprising...